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As we continue our focus on American Diabetes Month, some news about the cost side of the equation.

We have highlighted items on the health side including:

A study that offers guidance for the benefits of a well-run wellness program to help reduce sugar beverage consumption. The study is titled “Trends in Beverage Consumption Among Children and Adults, 2003-2014” and was published in Obesity. A deeper look at the study provides more important insights that could apply to well-run workplace wellness programs and approaches to keep this downward trend going.

We also noted the important role a well-run workplace wellness program can play in helping identify and manage diabetes and prediabetes — and reviewed not only some of the symptoms, but also some of the ways in which workplace wellness can help.

According to the American Diabetes Association, many “symptoms of diabetes are typical. However, some people with type 2 diabetes have symptoms so mild that they go unnoticed:”

Now a new Reuters piece notes the cost: “The number of people living with diabetes has tripled since 2000, pushing the global cost of the disease to $850 billion a year.”

Helping reduce companies' health costs is a major goal of well-run workplace wellness programs, and within that effort, a focus on diabetes and prediabetes is key.

The Reuters piece continues: “The vast majority of those affected have type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and lack of exercise, and the epidemic is spreading particularly fast in poorer countries as people adopt Western diets and urban lifestyles.”

“The latest estimates from the International Diabetes Federation mean that one in 11 adults worldwide have the condition, which occurs when the amount of sugar in the blood is too high.”